The use of a flexible mat that can be rolled out for use during a yoga or other exercise class and then rolled back up once the class is complete is common. These mats are intended to protect the user from slipping on the floor or from otherwise touching or laying on the floor, which can be uncomfortable and unsanitary. Yoga mats are often referred to as “sticky mats” because they also have a textured surface that can help prevent slipping.
Yoga and other exercise mats are typically designed as a straight, elongate strip of material. This creates a number of challenges. For example, because yoga classes often involve a number of poses and stretches that involve various twists and positions, it is inevitable that at some point, the students will turn to face various sides of the studio in order to stay on their mats. This results in the students not being able to face or otherwise see the instructor during certain poses. Examples of such difficulties are shown in FIG. 1. For example, for poses that face forward (e.g., such as Warrior I, Mountain pose, sun salutations) the student and instructor can face one another as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. However, for a pose that requires the participants to turn to the side in order to stay on the mat as shown in FIG. 1C (e.g., such a triangle pose), the student and instructor no longer face one another.
If the mats are instead turned the other way, the same problem exists in reverse, as shown in FIG. 2. With the mats sideways, student and instructor face each other in FIG. 2A (Goddess pose), but not in FIGS. 2B and 2C. In short, it does not matter which way a traditional yoga or exercise mat is positioned—there will always be some poses where the student and instructor are not facing one another. Of course, flipping the mats back and forth for the various poses during a class destroys the class flow, takes time, and is impractical.
In addition to the above problems, the use of straight yoga mats can also cause various physical strains on the participants. If an instructor is demonstrating a posture, and because of the direction of the mat, turns his/her head to view the students' progress, the instructor may strain a neck or back muscle due to the twisted turn. The same problem can happen when students turn to see the instructor during a pose, which can move them out of proper and safe body alignment (an example of which is shown in FIG. 14C). If, in order to solve the problem, the instructor moves to a different location without a mat, the instructor no longer has the safety and comfort benefits of the mat. And placing multiple mats around the room at various positions for the instructor to use during various poses can create a messy, unsafe, and confusing atmosphere.
Additionally, many studios have hard wood floors. Often, these floors are uncomfortable in certain poses, and some sort of padding would be preferable. Frequently, students will fold up a blanket to place under knees, ankles, head, elbows or they will double up mats, resulting in either the students or the studio having to purchase, maintain, and navigate these additional products. Nonetheless, it has been typically the standard to simply live with these challenges, as there has not been provided a realistic and viable solution.
One attempted solution has been to use two mats, one laid on top of the other in a crosswise or opposite direction, as shown in the right side photo of FIG. 2D. However, this causes a potential tripping hazard, mat slippage, as well as a bulky and uneven center area where the two mats overlap one another. It also requires the purchase of two mats, and having to carry, roll, unroll, and store two mats. If mats are provided by the studio, if requires the studio to maintain double the inventory with twice as many mats to store and sanitize. If the student chooses to lay two mats on top of each in the same direction to create extra padding, similar problems result.
Other solutions have been to provide very large square or oval mats, some as large as six feet across. The size of these mats helps the user stay on the mat during the entire exercise experience, but they are large, expensive, unwieldy to store, and take up a good deal of space in a class, potentially limiting student size.
A further attempted solution has been to create a yoga mat having an alternate shape. One design that has been considered is a mat having equidistant arms that extend out from the midpoint of a straight mat, much like a plus-sign as shown in FIG. 3. One problem with such a design is that in the T-pose, where the participant lays flat on his/her back with arms outstretched, the legs would extend off of the mat.
Another attempted solution has been to create a mat having a capital T-shape, as shown in FIG. 4. This mat is designed primarily for push-ups, in order to provide the user a place to put his/her outstretched hands instead of on the floor. The problem with using such a mat for yoga is that in the T-pose, where the participant lays flat on his/her back with arms outstretched, the arms would extend off of the mat.
A final design attempt has been to create a yoga mat having wing shapes that extend from a straight mat, but the wings are described as separate pieces that are attached to the mat with woven material or hook and loop fastener. The problem with this design is that the user has to keep track of multiple pieces, and rolling the mat can be a challenge.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for a simple and elegant solution to the above problems.